Preparations are now formally under way for the May 4 council elections across Cornwall.

There are 983 candidates battling to win seats in 184 unitary and town and parish electoral areas across Cornwall.

Staff from Cornwall Council’s electoral service are busy preparing with thousands of ballot papers being printed, staff being trained and arrangements being made to set up the two count centres at Carn Brea leisure centre and the Royal Cornwall Showground in Wadebridge, where the South East Cornwall constituency area seats will be counted.

There will also be four Neighbourhood Plan referendums taking place on the same day, including on the Rame Peninsula.

The votes for the referendums will be counted following the declarations of the unitary and the town and parish council elections.

The unitary election will see 448 candidates contesting 123 seats in 122 electoral divisions (Bude is a two member division). All 123 unitary council seats are being contested, with the number of candidates in electoral divisions ranging from two to six.

97 current councillors are standing again (although two councillors have changed areas), with 26 standing down.

There are 196 parish and town councils in Cornwall, and 17 parish meetings, with 309 separate electoral areas. 

There will be contests in 62 town and parish councils, with a total of 535 candidates standing for election. 

This means that there will no elections in any of the remaining town and parish councils, with 1,341 candidates elected unopposed.

Poll cards have been sent to all households on the electoral register, and postal vote ballot papers are due to be sent out to everyone who has requested a postal vote around April 18.

Electoral services staff will begin opening postal votes at the council offices at Luxstowe House in Liskeard and Dolcoath from Monday, April 24, with the process continuing until 10pm on May 4 when the polls close.

So far the council will be sending out 73,371 unitary and 27,742 town and parish postal votes - a total of 174,484.

To be eligible to vote in the elections you need to have registered to vote by Thursday, April 13 – go to cornwall.gov.uk

The council has recruited 1,000 presiding officers and polls clerks to run the 473 polling stations. In addition to this there will be around 400 count assistants verifying and counting votes at the two centres. 

The count will take place on May 5.